


Running Wild

by michixlove08



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:34:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27573151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michixlove08/pseuds/michixlove08
Summary: Canon compliant - ish. This is the story of Flicker, a series of vignettes into the relationship between Eleanor Calder and Niall Horan over the years of One Direction.When he had first met her, she hadn’t even been there for him. But he couldn’t forget it, not even if he wanted to. It had been his birthday, after all. And that had just been the beginning.
Relationships: Eleanor Calder/Niall Horan, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne/Danielle Peazer, Zayn Malik/Stephanie Davis
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Running Wild

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t written an actual honest-to-God fic in so long, but I have been… inspired. My best friend and I were talking about One Direction crackships one night and dove into a hole of Nialeanor. We started thinking, okay, what if though?? What if Flicker (and honestly – some parts of Heartbreak Weather) were about Eleanor? What if the reason that Niall’s girlfriend during the One Direction days was never photographed or found out was because it was someone who was already around for basically the entire time One Direction was together? And then you get into the lyrics of Flicker and how much of it is about the difference between what the world sees and what the person in a relationship sees and… it just fit so very well.  
> She’s out of contact for a week and so I have nowhere else to put these thoughts but onto “paper,” so to speak, so… this is dedicated to Amber. (I don’t know her AO3 name but you can follow her TikTok @neleanor_stan)

_When he had first met her, she hadn’t even been there for him. But he couldn’t forget it, not even if he wanted to. It had been his birthday, after all. And that had just been the beginning._

The difference between Niall’s sixteenth and eighteenth birthdays was so stark that he could not even have fathomed what this birthday would have looked like on that day. His sixteenth birthday—that had been before the X-Factor audition, when he was still back in Mullingar. Back home in Ireland with his parents and his brother and his mates, that had been his sixteenth birthday. And now… this. He had to laugh, looking around at a whole new set of mates in a very different locale than he’d celebrated his sixteenth. He was having his first (well, first **legal** ) drink in a posh club, rather than in the local pub he’d thought he would two years before. Two years before, he’d not even known these three: Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson—nor Harry Styles, poor lad sitting out the evening since he was the youngest, the last one left out on pub nights now. There were others around, as well, but these lads had become closer to him than even some of his best mates back in Ireland. They lived together, traveled together. They wrote together and laughed together and made fools of themselves in interviews and he could not imagine a better group to be with tonight, or any night.

It was just a bit odd, looking around and remembering that he was the sole single member of the band. He watched his mates with a grin as he downed another drink, easily laughing even as he observed them. Zayn had Stephanie on his arm, and Liam was being cuddly with Danielle. Even Louis had a date tonight, which was a bit ridiculous since the worst-kept secret amongst them was that Louis and Harry had become a bit of a… thing. Wasn’t his place to put a label on the thing, but with the amount of time they’d all spent together it would have been impossible to **not** notice the way they were constantly touching and watching each other. It was pretty cute, honestly, but… well. Management is management, and he guessed that was why Eleanor had joined them this evening, especially with Harry sat at home alone.

It was honestly a bit of a shame, he would’ve liked the opportunity to just get absolutely smashed with Louis, him utterly unattached. Though, it wasn’t like Eleanor was keeping his attention strictly in check. Niall grinned, nudging at Louis’s side with his elbow to draw his attention before speaking to all the lads. “Alright, it’s my birthday, and you lot are paying far more attention to the ladies than to what’s really important. Me.” He laughed, calling for another couple round of shots. “Louis, bet you can’t drink three shots faster than me.” His grin turned a bit mischievous, knowing that the oldest member of the band would be unable to resist the bet. “Loser buys the next round,” he said, watching Louis’s expression with bright eyes.

Louis’s response came with a snort. “Mate, management’s paying, but alright, alright—” His blue eyes twinkled as he grinned, raising the shot glass and downing the first one, Niall clamoring as his hand dove for his own, sucking them down in succession with only a slight shudder after the last. Louis was smirking at him, having finished a moment before him. “Looks like you owe me, mate.”

Liam’s eyes were rolled to the heavens and Zayn was too busy with his face buried in Stephanie’s neck to say much, but that didn’t matter quite so much when Louis was horsing around with him.

The brunette that had come as Louis’s date was biting her lip to stifle a laugh and when Niall looked over to her, he realized that he hadn’t really _seen_ her when she’d first arrived. Eleanor Calder. She’d been introduced, Louis’s date, and his brain had just kind of—glossed over her. But fuck. Niall grinned, his hand automatically going to ruffle his hair. God, her eyes… He’d always had a thing for brown eyes, it was ridiculous, honestly. But hers were more than just that deep shade that he’d always been a total goner for—they were bright and intelligent and catching way more than her expression was letting on. Did he see all of that? It’s hard to tell, just… fuck. Those eyes and that cute nose and the way her lips were soft and full and she was _biting_ her bottom lip stifling a giggle he was suddenly yearning to hear at the ridiculousness of himself and Louis.

Oh. Louis. Niall leaned back into his seat, remembering. Even if he knew, and the whole band knew, that Louis would be going home tonight to snog Harry Styles… he couldn’t just be sitting there staring into the big beautiful brown eyes of his mate’s date for the night. “Didn’t you _just_ say that management’s got our drinks tonight?” He muttered in response, hoping everyone would take the slight flush to his cheeks as a consequence for the three shots of vodka and not because he’d caught himself checking out his mate’s date.

“Anyway,” he continued on, desperate for a distraction now, “why aren’t we dancing, it’s a club, it’s my birthday.” He stood quickly—wobbling only slightly before he caught his balance, adjusting to the effects of the alcohol he’d downed since last standing. The girls, at least, were on the same page as him, he noticed gratefully as Stephanie and Danielle pulled their boyfriends to their feet. Niall grinned, already moving out towards the floor, mussing Louis’s hair as he moved. “C’mon, Lou, s’my birthday wish, dancing with my mates, can’t let me down.”

Louis batted his hand away with a chuckle, grabbing Eleanor by the hand and standing with him. “Well alright then Nialler, but don’t expect us to be picking you up when you fall down,” he teased him as they all moved towards where the lights were even lower, the music louder, and the press of bodies brought the sharp smell of booze-sweat into focus. Niall was just dancing for the joy of it, even though he didn’t have a date—he didn’t mind it, honestly, he was just there for a good time and he didn’t need a date for it. Things were often better on your own, anyway, he’d found. He _liked_ being single, and he liked dancing, even alone.

Two songs. Two songs passed and Niall was just getting into his groove, when Louis tapped his shoulder, speaking directly into his ear just to be heard. He stilled in his dancing to listen. “Gotta go to the look, keep Eleanor company will ya?”

Well. Shit. Niall nodded and then turned, Eleanor right in front of him as he stepped forward. He was grinning, because he had just been delivered the prettiest girl in the whole bloody club to keep company while her date was gone, and while part of his brain was screaming danger, another part was just eager for the opportunity. Besides it was just a dance or two before Louis’d be back… what harm could be done in a couple of minutes?

Eleanor, for her part, was grinning back at him in a friendly way, her hips still moving with the music, so that he couldn’t help but pull her a bit closer, dancing with her as Louis stepped away. It was totally, utterly innocent, just a dance or two, and then a third. They danced well together, but Niall wasn’t thinking about that—nor was he thinking about the way her face was flushing from the heat of the people all around them, or the way those hips were moving begged him to place his hands over them and pull her tighter against him, the way he wanted to dance with her, close and hot and—

“Can we—” Her voice came through dimly through the thrum of music. “Can we go sit for a minute?”

Niall paused, nodding, his hand going to the small of her back as he led her back to the table, where she gulped a few sips of her drink. “You alright?”

“Just… thirsty.” She looked up at him, her face still a bit flushed. “Hot out there. You can go back, you know. I’m… I can wait for Louis here.”

He _should_ have nodded and gone back. It’d been nearly ten minutes by this point, Louis was already past due back to them, so she’d only be alone for a moment or two. So why was it, exactly, that he instead shook his head and settled down into the booth next to her with a smile. “Nah, you’re right. Hot out there. Break’s good.”

A pause settled between them, and Niall felt his skin starting to crawl because here they were, in relative quiet, alone, with no distractions and he could really see her so much better here, with those brown eyes and full lips and God, that hair he just wanted to run his fingers through as he kissed her, bet she was a bloody brilliant kisser, and she looked just so soft and kind and smart, and fuck if that wasn’t just his favorite combination in someone—

He kept getting lost in those thoughts, so he cut himself off and smiled at her. “Tell me about life for you, I didn’t get to hear anything earlier when you were talking, it was too loud,” he said, remembering vaguely that she’d mentioned some things when they’d first gotten to the club. But that had been before he’d truly seen her and so he hadn’t… well. He’d been distracted by other things.

“Oh, I was just saying that I’m in uni. At Manchester. I’ve only just started, though,” she said, smiling as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

He nodded. “Amazing.” A light grin formed on his lip. “But you’ll be taking a break some weekend to come see us, won’t you? I mean, you know. If… things go well.” No, Niall, you idiot, things won’t go well, Louis is at the very minimum _snogging_ Harry, the only way for this to go well is if you manage to sweep her off her feet right under Louis’s nose even if he isn’t really dating her that would be quite the dick move since he and Harry haven’t even talked about the fact that their snogging even to the rest of the band and he is technically her date tonight after all.

“I hope so…” She paused, her eyes drawn away from him to look around the club. “Do you think Louis will be much longer? It’s been nearly fifteen minutes…” Eleanor was starting to look a bit nervous and Niall wanted to smack himself for not being more attuned to that.

“M’sure he’s fine, honest. Sometimes he steps out to call his mum or his sisters. He’s got this huge wonderful family, y’know, and…” Shit. Fuck. While that was the truth—well, _a_ truth—he had a feeling he knew exactly what Louis was doing on his phone and it likely had much less to do with a call home to the Tomlinsons and much more likely it’s texting or calling Haz. Niall covered, though, smoothing it over. “He should be back any minute though.” And of course she would rather spend the time with him—of _course_ , that was her date. Not him. Stop thinking about her.

“Oh. Yeah, he… he did mention. Thanks.” She smiled at him again, relief clear in her eyes as she relaxed into the booth. “But… yeah. I do want to come see the show, sometime soon hopefully.” Her eyes twinkled a little as she continued. “I voted for you boys, by the way.”

Niall was leaning in towards her now, grinning widely. “Oh did you?”

She laughed. God, the sound of her laughter was _amazing_. “Of course. You’re all brilliant—” Her head turned as footsteps approached behind them.

“There you two are, trying to run off with my date, Nialler?”

Louis’s tipsy voice came at him as he turned his head to look towards him, laughing a little as he shook his head in response. “Nah, never. _You_ were the one who said to keep her company, didn’t you? And here we are.” Niall grinned easily at him, as though the idea of stealing his date away had never even crossed his mind once, let alone the five times he’d thought of it in the last hour.

Louis took Eleanor back to the dance floor then, and Niall sat for a while at the table alone before everyone came back for more drinks. He was having a brilliant time, but he couldn’t help but find himself still thinking about Eleanor. He downed a couple more drinks and then went back out to the dance floor himself later, alone this time. He returned twenty minutes later, still alone and sighing a bit as he knocked back another shot. He’d begun the night not minding being alone, instead reveling in it. But now…

He’d wanted a birthday kiss, alright? Even just a little birthday peck would be fine. A snog would be tremendous. And, he’d thought, would have gotten his mind away from his mate’s gorgeous date. He’d struck out on the dance floor twice before coming back. Thankfully, his friends were too blasted to notice his subtle mood change.

Less fortunately, was that Eleanor did not. He’d thought earlier that those intelligent eyes were watching them all. And now he had bloody proof as she leaned towards him—when had she and Louis swapped places? He couldn’t recall. But there she was, next to him now whereas before Louis had been sat between them. “Are _you_ alright?” She asked him, echoing the question he’d asked her earlier.

His cheeks went a bit pink at having been caught having a mood. “Fine, swear it. Was just trying to get a birthday kiss. Struck out.” He replied with a rueful grin, sinking farther into the booth.

“Oh well if that’s all. Happy birthday, then.” She leaned a hair closer, her lips pressing to his cheek for a brief, precious moment, catching him utterly off guard. “How’s that, then?”

Not the kiss he wanted, but hell if he wasn’t about to regret that for a moment, the feel of her breath lightly tickling his skin, the softness of her lips on his cheek. He hadn’t known a simple cheek kiss _could_ be sexy until the girl he’d developed a slight crush on in the course of two hours had been the one to give it. “Ahh… not what I was thinking of, but… I’ll take it.” He grinned at her, cursing whatever universal force that had deigned that Eleanor be Louis’s date tonight and not his instead.

He was a goner after that moment. The rest of the night passed easily, even though Niall spend half of it thinking about a cheek kiss. When they’d all gone home—and Eleanor and the other girls had said their goodbyes—he was still thinking of it. And when Niall settled into his bed that that, he was _still_ thinking of it, that cheek kiss and the girl with the watchful brown eyes and soft lips that had given it to him.

And he knew he was in deep trouble.


End file.
